Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 8, 2015
Dear Parishioners,
Jesus’ whole ministry is an example of how to live our lives celebrating God’s love and God’s power. In today’s Gospel we read how people crowded around the door looking for healing! Even when Jesus retreated for a rest, his disciples came after him. “Everyone is searching for you,” they told him. The same Jesus works through us to bring the divine touch to the ailments of the suffering masses in our world. Jesus knows the demons that afflict us: our bad habits, weaknesses, vices, compulsions, fears and worries.
Prayer was an essential part of Jesus’ life. It was a refuge from the enthusiasm of the crowds. It was the secret to his great power. If we want to be in touch with God, then we need to take the time to withdraw from the world to pray. Like Jesus, we need time to recharge our batteries, to be alone, to be renewed.
We can find and pray to God anywhere and everywhere: in the kitchen, in the classroom, in the office, in the street, in our car. But it is good to have a special place to which we can withdraw from time to time. In such places we become different, more attuned to God, calmer, quieter, more relaxed, and more open to God’s presence.
When people came to Jesus for healing, Jesus said that he did not come to heal sick people but to heal the world. He came to change the world in such a way that sickness would disappear. It is a call to us to look for the reasons behind what is ailing our communities and our world and to change our priorities as he did.
When I was working in our African Missions, a group of missionary sisters from Europe arrived to start a clinic in an impoverished area in Kenya. People flocked to the sisters’ mission bringing their children. It was a wonderful success, but the sisters kept wondering whether they were doing the right thing. Most of the cases they treated were children suffering from diarrhea. The sisters could treat the symptoms overnight, but they knew that the main problem was bad drinking water, and that the children would be okay for a day or two, but then would return to the clinic. So the sisters started visiting people in their villages and speaking to the elders and governmental leaders to help bring about a change in their water supply. Within several months a new water supply was operational and the children no longer suffered diseases.
How do we begin to look at the problems in our communities and our world, and then do something about them? We see needy people all around us. We live in a world where many go hungry. Violence is escalating in our community. Terrorism continues to spread throughout the world. We feel powerless to change anything. Yet the same power that Jesus used is available to us. We too can learn to channel power, peace, and joy to the people and situations around us. We can bask in the love of God, and reach out in love to our needy world. We can see Jesus in others, and let them see Jesus in us.
Fr. Leonard+